We have returned after our 16 day trip to the UK, and we had great fun! As I often do I will present the results on a day by day business, to keep it interesting for you and also for me
It is annoying by the way to see how long it takes for me to post the first day! I blame my new job for this, hopefully I will be able to post everything before the new season starts.... I'll do my best!
I will include longitude/latitude where useful for Google Earth, and (as always) I'll include all info not read off between brackets.
We flew in on Saturday morning to Stansted, got the rental car (a hughe Ford), and were on our way to our first visit immediately. On our way there we made a quick stop however, at Lodge farm near Cottered where a Gazelle should live. Unfortunately the sheds were all closed, and the owner was not present. A guy who seemed to live in a trailer here confirmed there was a helicopter in a barn, but that didn't have any usable gaps in it. So no more time to waste, and on to Henlow.
RAF Henlow
Vigilant T.1, (616 VGS): ZH122/TH, ZH127/TN, ZH211/UR, ZH270/SC, ZH278/SF
R5136 Tiger Moth II G-APAP
LF858 Queen Bee (G-BLUZ) no mks
WT612 Hunter F.1 pr, gate, no mks
(XA230) Grasshopper TX.1 (BGA4098) unmarked
G-ACDA Tiger Moth (ex NL864)
G-ACUS Leopard Moth (c/n 7082) civil only?
G-AIYS Leopard Moth (c/n 7089) civil only?
G-ANZT Jackaroo (ex T7798)
G-AJVE Tiger Moth II (ex DE943)
G-BTBX L-4 (c/n 6334), ex mil?
Our first visit of the trip, and immediately a great succes! The weather was perfect, so although I already have lots of Vigilants on picture I did take lots of shots here. Especially from the stairs at the tower the angle was great!
After this nice start we visited the nearby museum (less than a mile from the main gate), for the helicopter that's present for some time here.
Stondon Transport Museum, Lower Stondon (52º 00' 14" N, 0º 19' 00" W)
XN341 Skeeter AOP.12 pr, no mks, c/n S2/7147
A big collection with mainly cars, and also some motorcycles, a boat, two civil small things and this Skeeter. Another one in the books!
A few years ago Frank and I had tried to visit the Shuttleworth Collection, but the reception was not too friendly that time. We arrived rather late in the afternoon then, and they had already closed the hangars. Like someone mentioned to me then: "if they can close them they can also open them", but for some reason that was not an option apparently. So this was a place we still had to visit, and this time we made sure we were there early...
Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden
outside:
1979/NQ+NR Kl.35D D-EQXD, German markings but ex Swe AF Sk.15A 5050!
25071/GL+SU Bu.181 G-GLSU, German markings but ex Swe AF Sk.25 25071!
42-98177/R-8 L-5A (N6438C), just visiting probably
41-20854/854 PT-22 (G-BTBH) no mks, is this really ex 42-17378?
restoration hanghar:
D8096/D F.2B (G-AEPH)
(AR501) Spitfire Vc (G-AWII)
(2008)/GM+AI Fi.156A-1 G-STCH
inside hangars:
9917 Pup (G-EKBY, real id N5180) no mks
F904 RAF Se.5A G-EBIA, 92 sq mks
H5199 Avro 504K (G-ADEV) no mks
K1786 Tomtit G-AFTA, no mks
K2585 Tiger Moth II G-ANKT, CFS c/s (real id T6818)
K3241 Tutor G-AHSA, CFS c/s (real id K3215)
K5414/XV Hind (G-AENP, real id Afghan AF) 15 sq mks
K7985 Gladiator I (G-AMRK, real id L8032) 73 sq mks
N3788 Magister II (G-AKPF, real id V1075 with parts of N3788) no mks
P6382/C Hawk Trainer 3 (G-AJRS) no mks
V9367/MA-B Lysander IIIa (G-AZWT, 161 sq mks, real id RCAF 2355)
Z7015/7-L Sea Hurricane Ib (G-BKTH, 880 sq mks)
XF603 Provost T.1 (G-KAPW) no mks
18-5395/CDG L-18C G-CUBJ (real id KLu R-43, see below!)
4477/GD+EG CASA1.131E (G-RETA, real id E.3B-305)
671 Chipmunk T.10 G-BNZC, RCAF c/s (real id WP905)
1001/001 Ryan ST-3 G-BYPY, civil only?
G-AEEG Miles M.3A (ex Swe AF Tp.7 913)
G-ACSS Comet (ex K5084)
As with other locations I left out the replicas. I just read somewhere that the airfield is officially known as Shuttleworth aerodrome since a few years by the way, is that correct?
Regarding the L-18, the real French AF 18-5395 was used to rebuild c/n 18-5512 and now flies as G-SUPA. Confusing, isn't it?
Well, so we finally got round here, and with nice result. The four aircraft outside were baking in sunshine, so we took our chances here and made lots of pictures. An interesting collection!
Just north of here is a small farmstrip.
Rotary Farm, Hatch (52º 06' 51" N, 0º 19' 10" W)
(EPC-152)/52 Cap.10B N4238C
A nice surprise here! We had a look here to see wether the Dakota (visible on Google Earth) was still present, but found this instead. It is in full Mexican markings, and obviously lives here. They might have been more here being under restoration, but since it was weekend nobody was present to show us the workshops.
Next was another "still to do" location. This had been on the itinerary a few times before, but never happened so far.
De Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, London Colney
outside:
XJ565/E-127 Sea Vixen FAW.2 pr, 899 sq mks
XJ772/H Vampire T.11 pr (CATCS c/s)
J-1790 Venom FB.50 pr, no mks, real id J-1632 with booms of J-1790
inside:
J7326 Hummingbird pr, no wings, no mks
W4050/P Mosquito pr, no mks
LF789/R2-K Queen Bee pr, no wings
NJ710 Mosquito TT.35 std, rear fuselage (real id TJ118)
TA122/UP-G Mosquito FB.VI pr, fuselage, 21 sq mks (or is this 464 sq?)
TA634/8K-K Mosquito TT.35 pr, 571 sq mks
WP790/T Chipmunk T.10 pr, Birmingham UAS mks
(XG730) Sea Venom FAW.22 u. rest
3x Vampire/Venom std, pod
J-1008 Vampire FB.6 pr, no mks
G-ADOT Hornet Moth pr (ex X9326)
(G-AKDW) Dominie I u. rest (ex NR833)
G-ANRX Tiger Moth pr (ex N6550)
storage (at staff parking):
? Chipmunk std, fuselage, is this WP869?
? Vampire/Venom std, pod
? ? std, large, under tarpaulin
In total there should be 4 Vampire/Venom pods stored here, WM729, WR539, WX853 (of which the wings are stored against the wall) and XH328. I guess we saw them all, but confirmation would be nice! One was in the restorarion hangar (where the Dominie is); there was a plate on this one that suggested it was a Venom I with c/n 540. Can this be correct, or is it just a part number? Also present was a part of the rear fuselage of Sea Hornet VX250 (and probably also the one of VW957), but I consider those too small to log. We almost drove off without looking at the staff park, but Frank was stubborn enough to give it a try, since "you never know". And he was very right indeed! The large aircraft was difficult to identify, since it was covered up. It might have been a Devon or something similar, for sure it did wear an RAF roundel.
After this we had hoped to get to Halton in time to catch the VGS there, but we already feared we were running out of time.
RAF Halton
(ZH125)/TL Vigilant T.1 (613 VGS)
(ZH186)/TY Vigilant T.1 (613 VGS)
ZJ962/SK Vigilant T.1 (613 VGS)
(XF527) Hunter F.6 pr, no mks
(XW303)-127 Jet Provost T.5A dump, CF mks
G-ASZE Terrier 2 (ex Auster AOP.6 VF552, this is not on the Demobbed site!)
G-ATVF Chipmunk T.10 (ex WD327)
The VGS had gone home, and everything was locked up. They had no less than three Vigilants we needed here, and we managed to identify exactly three through cracks and windows. You can imagine my surprise and happiness when we found it it were exactly those three.... We had a quick look around in the two civilian hangars, with the RAFGSA, only the third seperate civil hangar was already closed. In here we could see two Chipmunks and lots of other stuff, but it was already too dark to identify those. Well, with the three new gliders we were not complaining!
And that was the score for our first day. We still had some drive ahead of us, since we had a hotel near Boscombe Down, and as I didn´t sleep last night (amazing how much times all the preparations take) it really was time to get to the hotel and get some sleep.
As always corrections, additions and comments are very welcome.
That´s all folks!
Hielko Overeem, Frank Mink & Patrick Dirksen
Tristar Aviation